The Sampoong Department Store Collapse | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Вставка
- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- "On the 29th of June, 1995, the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed..."
As always, THANK YOU to all my Patreon patrons: you make this channel possible.
/ fascinatinghorror
TRANSLATIONS:
► This video is also available in German ( • Der Sampoong Kaufhaus ... )
SOCIAL MEDIA:
► Twitter: / truehorrortales
► TikTok: / fascinatinghorror
► Suggestions: hello@fascinatinghorror.co.uk
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:37 - Background
03:34 - The Sampoong Department Store Collapse
07:29 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "The Plan's Working" by Cooper Cannell
SOURCES:
► "Learning from Seoul's Sampoong Department Store disaster - a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 44" by Colin Marshall, published by The Guardian, May 2015. Link: www.theguardian.com/cities/20....
► "After 16 Days, a Rescue Stirs Hope in Korea" by Sheryl Wudunn, published by The New York Times, July 1995. Link: www.nytimes.com/1995/07/16/wo....
► "Death and Calamity: The Sampoong Department Store Collapse Explained" by Jaime Trosper, published by Interesting Engineering, June 2021. Link: interestingengineering.com/de....
► "Lessons from the Sampoong department store collapse" by NJ Gardner, Jungsuck Huh and LKan Chung, published by Cement and Concrete Composites, December 2002. Link: www.researchgate.net/publicat....
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
The fact that the chairman decided to evacuate and leave behind all those shoppers and workers including his own daughter in law is so haunting. Greed is an ugly thing.
Right? It's like the Trolley Problem if you've got the lives of 500+ people on one track and a big pile of money on the other. 😐
@@Rampala Idk, the trolley problem requires at least some level of compassion. Are you going to save the group of people? Or are you going to save someone you care about? This guy is so cold and greedy that he decided to not save anyone.
The family reunions that followed were probably real awkward.
proof that the guy wasn'tjsut an idiot with no sense of how the constuction should be run and was indecisive: he was also an evil piece of shit who allowed peopel to die because he wanted more money.
@@ericwlezniak2081 ok, that made me laugh. Thank you for that.
There was a store worker trapped in the rubble in the basement level, she talked about how she could hear her coworkers trapped with her struggling to stay alive until she eventually stopped hearing their voices. When she was rescued, her sense of time was so warped that she thought she was down there for about a day not two whole weeks.
That's a blessing about her time being warped. I couldn't imagine 2 weeks. Omg poor woman.
How did she not dehydrate to death?
I think that was the last person rescued, Park Seung-hyun; I remember that from the Seconds From Disaster episode about this disaster.
@@Teverell Thank you. I knew I heard about this and was racking my brain trying to remember where.
Her sense of time being off had to be a blessing, a person could go mad being trapped like that for two weeks
It's the fact that the executives saved their own asses while leaving everyone else to die that makes this tragedy all the more horrifying.
Sadly, it happened again. Only this time it was a ship captain climbing aboard a rescue boat while hundreds of Korean students were trapped in his sinking ship because they were ordered to stay in their cabins to await the Coast Guard rescue. The Sewol ferry disaster is something I hope FH will cover one day.
@@opwave79 I saw that one on Horror Stories. That one made my blood boil with how incompetent everyone was
that’s how you know they knew what was going to happen. If they truly didn’t think the building wasn’t going to collapse, they would’ve never evacuated themselves. Just pure evil
Yup. I was disgusted that they say it wasn’t danger enough to evacuate the entire building, but saved themselves anyway.
Bunch of sniveling, cowardly rats, every single one of them.
Okay.... ignoring the shortcuts and cheaply way the building was constructed, the fact they knew it was going collapse and did not evacuate the store but left themselves is absolutely unforgivable. Everyone in that board meeting should have been charged with homicide for every person killed due to they're cold money hungry hearts. If there is a hell, I hope they rot in it.
100%
I totally agree Truenarf
This! This! Literally all of this could've been avoided If he wasn't a nasty piece of sh*t. How do you even live with yourself after killing over 502 people and especially your OWN daughter-in-law? My god.
Their*
There’s no chance they thought it was going to collapse within hours of the meeting. I’m sorry but no one is that evil.
Shame of Fascinating Horror for framing the video to seem like this was some nefarious deed of ill intent.
@@WestonEvans FH misrepresents *every event in every video* in order to make the event seem more interesting and encourage comments.
In truth the story goes that they thought the building would collapse within the next 3 months and had structural engineers involved. This is an exceptionally well covered event.
Lee Joon is almost a caricature of a corrupt businessman. The idea that they didn't want to close the store for fear of lost revenue, but all of the executives evacuated because it was unsafe is like something out of a poorly written movie
Sadly, calling him a "Caricature" would be a terrifying understatement. He is the bloody amalgamation of the shady practices that were prevalent during the Korean military dictatorship - AND the common corruption in booming economies.
Oh, and did I mention that he also worked for the secret police in the earlier years? That explains quite a lot actually.
The most generous possible read would be they thought the building could last for the rest of the business day ... still.
My best friend and her mother survived this event. She was three years old at the time, and rescue workers tore her from her mother's arm and took her to the hospital. They didn't allow her mother to go with her, and her family was separated from her for three days. A few months later they immigrated to Canada. Korea was much less developed back then and there were lots of incidents occurring. She is okay now, and has actually moved back to Korea, but her parents still deal with PTSD and will never move back home.
understandable
Gosh that’s so scary! I hope the parents can recover from their PTSD, and I’m glad that your friend is doing good!^^
@@SADIE_Maybe_SADISTIC Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... sorry, I don't mean to be that guy.. but you already edited your post once 😅
@@RangerRiccardo Oh no! That’s great infact, thanks! You were really respectful!😊💕🙏🏾
till this day, South Korea developted only tachnologies and economies, but any bad things still in their society, this country is the bad dream for feminists and LGBT.
One other detail that exacerbated the weakness of the roof was that when the fifth floor was added the support columns were stuck in with no regard for existing structure below and didn't line up with ones on lower floors. This meant that when the multi ton AC units were placed on the roof all that load was being supported by essentially random patches of floor on the fifth floor rather than the actual load bearing structure of the building. That of course is just on top of the other issues.
One does not have to be an architect to see that this was a horrible idea. This, and the fact that the owner fled the building, but the stores were not evacuaded, should have sent the owner to prison for a way longer time.
@@IndigoRyu "Ah yes, our building is unsafe and about to collapse. Well let's evacuate ourselves and pray it doesn't happen until after business hours."
- Horrible People in that meeting, probably
They moved those air conditioning units by dragging them across the roof, which inky made the structural integrity problems worse.
that's actually insane that it managed to be built like that, that's so fundamentally flawed
Also, the building was supposed to be offices, not retail.
After the condo collapse in Florida last year, I heard about this incident. The rescue crew that helped find the person after 17 days came to Florida to help, based on their experience rescuing under similar conditions.
I know about the goose
I didn't know that ! Thanks for sharing, I love learning little historical tidbits like that.
Must have been a crew of old men.
This building collapsed about 25 years ago.
@@MrYfrank14 I can't speak to the facts of this particular story, but it would be very on-brand for Korean older dudes. For better or worse, roadwork crews in South Korea are frequently staffed by surprisingly senior-looking guys doing very physical labor, and doing it well.
@@maharajohn2 yes, these old generation made sure their sons and daughters all go to college, whether they have the brains for higher education or not. and these young people would never work on construction labor, because it's beneath them with their college degrees from some 3rd rate schools.
That's the problem that Korean society face today.
I love how respectfully you report these tragedies without any extra bullshit of intros or outros! Just a pet peeve of mine when someone spends half the video talking about how thankful they are for their subscribers, especially when the topic of the video is about a tragedy, which is utterly disrespectful.
In short: quality content, as always.
amen
THIS ☝🏼😌💯
Right on. Preach.
Exactly! that's why channels like this are a treasure.
I think some of it is the British vs American approach to documentary-making, reporting etc. Contrast old British TV shows World in Action, This Week, Panorama to US programmes covering factual topics. Where Americans are prone to sensationalism and introducing unnecessary drama, cliffhangers, constant recaps etc (to the point I can't watch a lot of Nat Geo or Discovery shows now, as they are too light on actual content) the British stick to the facts and focus on telling the story. Unsurprisingly (as a viewer of this channel) I much prefer the latter approach, though as with other elements of UK culture, the American way is beginning to become more prevalent.
Every time I see something about this incident it makes my blood boil. Callousness, greed, and negligence never lead to a good outcome. In this case, it seems astonishing that anyone got prison terms because people like this can easily buy their way out of trouble. Thanks for another great video.
A prison term and assets seized for victims' compensation. I'm not familiar with the South Korean legal system, but if this is anything to go by, they're doing things right. I'm so sick of hearing about how the perpetrators were able to avoid responsibility because of a technicality or legal loophole; it seems to happen a lot in these disasters set in North America and Europe. Last week's video was especially egregious.
The sentences when faced with the sheer level of death still seem light, but a full surrender of assets? Spot on. Every cent they had was forfeit by their callousness and arrogance.
@@TheZackofSpades Yeah, that's a pretty fair point. I guess this channel has trained us to just expect zero repercussions from the SOB who cause the disaster, so I'm just happy to take whatever we can get whenever some punishment is doled out. At least this guy was (presumably) bankrupt and put in a position to never be able to let this happen again.
@@Unownshipper right…also that $ (while perhaps a pittance when dispensed to 500+ families of victims) is a better restitution to those hurt than just taking the culprit’s liberty indefinitely. A decade is still a lot, especially for an old man.
Don't forget pride. And I'm not talking about the kind that's merely a healthy and realistic sense of self-worth and value, but the belief that one is somehow superior to others. It can also drive people to do ugly things too.
This is a place my dad frequented for business. My grown ass adult cousin called my mom this day & joked that my dad was there. My mom almost fainted, and my cousin thought joking about a tragedy was funny. We don’t talk to her anymore. Rest in peace to the perished.
Omg that's messed I can see why you don't talk to her anymore
Really? During the tragedy?! WTF
This is so messed up of your cousin to joke about the tragedy. I'm glad you and your family were able to cut ties with her. She's clearly not worth being around with, given how insensitive she acted.
It just goes to show that it's not just corporate CEOs who can be stupid and cruel.
I lived in South Korea and was friends/coworkers with a Korean girl whose mom had planned to go to this department store on the day it collapsed. She told me the night before, her dad had a bad dream that something bad was going to happen, so he told her mom to please not go to this store that day. She listened to him. That dream thankfully saved her life.
Disasters like this where many die leave a strong spiritual imprint. There were also kids that saw a bloody man before the building collapsed telling them to leave urgently.
In Buenos Aires we had disastrous fire in a nightclub in 2004, December 30, Around 200 people died and thousands injured. A child of a friend had a dream about people burning the day before.
Your summary at 9:34 is probably one of your best yet - "wealth built on unstable foundations".
It's true, 500+ lives lost in an accident which was entirely preventable even on the day of the actual accident, if a proper evacuation had been carried out.
Reminds me of the concept you see in Qi, where you will never get anywhere without rebuilding an unstable foundation, and if continued will lead to permanent damage.
Corporate greed is deeming staff and customers alike as worthy sacrifices for profit, failing to foresee that those profits will be far outweighed by how much they'll owe amd how completely their reputation is stained, and assuming no one will prove the blood is on their hands after being used to years of getting what they want. It just doesn't occur to them in cases like these that they're shitting the bed.
@@verdantViridity Pretty much. They sacrificed more than 500 people for profit, and couldn't even keep the profit. If they'd have just done things the right way, they'd still be a rich conglomerate.
1:10
Now hes just being anti-semitic, but i agree with his summary of the central banking system
Only a couple of minutes in but if the construction crew is refusing to make your building with the new designs, that's the first red flag that there are problems with the design. Listen to the experts.
I've seen videos about this disaster before and I was unaware that the original construction crew was fired for refusing to build an unsafe design.
You have good sense. Most responsible structural engineers would soil themselves at the 1:11 minute mark. "They planed to build a residential block on top of a land fill.
It's just like the Challenger disaster. Engineers told NASA the O rings would fail and that they shouldn't launch.
@@fireseeker4himThe June24,2021 catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Miami Beach Florida is an all to recent direct example of this type of failure. The legal case though is just beginning. Watch and learn.
It will be interesting to contrast how the perpetrators in the US will be dealt with as compared with South Korea.
@@georgemckenna462 Bad design in Florida but the Building Association knew of the issues and just put superficial repair bandaids on it instead of the costly repairs bc it would have had to assess the condo owners 10s of thousands each. It is unclear if the Association board was truly understanding of the dangerous situation they were in. I guess we might find out during the lawsuits if enough of the board members survived... The Association could have sued the builders etc but then they would have had to admit that their condos were unsaleable and unsafe. Something I am sure they were unwilling to do...
@@georgemckenna462 That's exactly what I was thinking. I bet no judge in the US is going make the guilty parties hand over all their assets to the victims (which they should!).
After visiting Seoul a couple of years ago I was very impressed with their dedication to safety. In my hotel room there was a special harness and abseiling equipment that would allow guests on the upper floors to escape, in the event of fire or some other emergency. I've never seen it anywhere else in the world.
You find that in Taiwan as well.
@@moestrei I'm not surprised to hear that about Taiwan, because they have to deal with earthquakes.
I remember seeing "smoke hoods" you could place over your head; they evidently contained an oxygen supply and would allow you to escape a smoky hotel in a fire.
I also liked the Korean train crossing signals. Anywhere there were two tracks, the crossing signal indicated not just that a train was coming, but which direction it was coming from. Once I was sitting at a crossing, waiting for a train to pass, when the directional signal reversed. I was puzzled until a second train came from the opposite direction. My view of that train was blocked by the first train, and I would've driven onto the tracks, assuming the first train had passed and it was safe to continue.
Makes you wonder how many people take the time to familiarize themselves with the equipment. During a life and death emergency is no time to figure out how to save yourself. Thanks for posting!
Absailing equipment is especially useful for the elderly and those with brittle bones.
I first heard about this tragedy after watching the South Korean series Black. They had a fictionalized mall collapse in the show, but they had a remembrance for the victims of Sampoong in the credits. Too many tragedies in this world stem from greed and grandiosity.
Well said. You nailed it. Greed and grandiosity
I heard about it watching Move To Heaven. I think it's really cool being able to learn about events in a country through television
Omg I’m watching Black right now!! Honestly everything surrounding the collapse in the show makes it hit even harder when knowing it’s based on irl events
The show Signal does a similar thing
There's also an entire kdrama built around fictional survivors of this tragedy. It's called Just Between Lovers.
As a Korean person, this incident is an especially heartbreaking one. This could have all been prevented if it weren't for the negligence of greedy people. :// Thank you for covering this one, love your channel! Also as a side note I'm pleasantly surprised that you pronounced the korean words correctly, I've seen so many people covering this topic butcher them lol(not that it bothers me much though)
(Edited my comment slightly bc of poor word choice. Thanks for pointing it out :))
your country needs more diversity
Greed, or the ridiculous laws prohibiting anyone but a Korean firm from working on the project? Sure, Lee Joon acted out of greed, but had that building been built by a qualified firm, without pressure to rush the job, the building wouldn't have been structurally unsound in the first place.
I'm in Dallas Texas. It's kind of crazy that I literally sprang my ankle skating tonight. Like, literally when I got home. Love Korean food (mostly the gochujang) and rice cakes/noodles
@@rileybobbert6527 poor thing...
@@rileybobbert6527 What the hell is wrong with you?
Main thing I learn from this channel is how 90 percent of these disasters were avoidable or could have been mitigated. The other 10 percent are insane buildups of coincidences and bad luck that really makes you feel like those people were doomed no matter what happened.
"It was only after strident protests by residents of the city... that rescue efforts resumed".
As happened with the MV Sewol; it appears that South Korean government at all levels seems to get paralysed in the face of a disaster through fear of further risk or loss of life making them look even more incompetent than they already do. I wonder where this stems from... is it an ideological or a cultural issue?
Edit: On reflection, I suppose it's just the same as everywhere else in the world; corrupt people are comfortable with their corruption until some tragic event forcefully holds them to account, at which point they crumble like the husks that they are.
I lived in Korea in 1995 and I clearly remember this incident.
However:
I also clearly remember media reporting that the building collapsed due to a swimming pool having been illegally and foolishly installed on the roof. Hence all the deaths due to drowning. What the…???
I just asked my wife (she is Korean), "Remember the Sampoong department store collapse?"
"Of course."
"Remember why it collapsed?"
"The assholes built a swimming pool on the top."
Nope. I could have sworn the same thing before watching this video and checking Wikipedia though.
I wonder if anyone else remembers this "news story" from back in the day???
I can't imagine surviving the initial collapse and then drowning due to the water applied by the fire department. Unreal...
I lived in Korea in 1995 and I clearly remember this incident.
However:
I also clearly remember media reporting that the building collapsed due to a swimming pool having been illegally and foolishly installed on the roof. Hence all the deaths due to drowning. What the…???
I just asked my wife (she is Korean), "Remember the Sampoong department store collapse?"
"Of course."
"Remember why it collapsed?"
"The assholes built a swimming pool on the top."
Nope. I could have sworn the same thing before watching this video and checking Wikipedia though.
I wonder if anyone else remembers this "news story" from back in the day???
@@brucefreadrich1188
There was a swimming pool built at the top but that was on a part of the building that never collapsed. Couldn’t have helped though.
@@brucefreadrich1188wasn't it partly bc of the large amounts of AC units up there causing cracks and motions leading the structure to become weaker?
I think that is the 'official' explanation combined with crap construction quality. (Korean concrete work - cement slabs without rebar, building inspectors on the take, etc. - ain't Italian concrete work.)@@Gl1tt3ry_C0m3t
I remember first hearing of this on “Seconds from Disaster” and my jaw dropped when I saw the aftermath of the collapse. I mean the entire middle section of the building gone with a huge loss of life. I can’t imagine being stuck under rubble for days on end and then the poor souls who drowned. All due to negligence, who knew? 🙄
All around this is just..terrible. like already these people are trapped under rubble, and those who survived are probably just hoping for rescuers. Just for the government to say "there's no more survivors" by day TWO! It felt a little bit like they didn't fully care
That episode had me on pins and needles. I can't think of another one where they didn't let you know if one of the people they mentioned lived or died until the very end. Felt actual relief when they talked about finding Park Seung-hyun after 17 days.
A couple of the stills used here look chillingly like Ground Zero.
Drowning while trapped somehow seems even more horrifying than being crushed 😭😭😭
@@meghansullivan6812 Yeah, the same thing happened to some "survivors" at the bottom of the Station nightclub crush/fire. The firefighters' water drowned a few of them 😓
I've actually heard the story of this tragedy before - but not FH style! Thanks FH another in-depth analysis highlighting the failures of a small group of decision makers that lead to the unfortunate loss of innocent lives.. may they all RIP 💐
@@zpridgen75 Here before your comment is deleted so people wonder who and why I'm replying to.
I forgot where I was and definitely just thought Funhaus and not Fascinating Horror for FH and got very confused lol
yes me too. my mouth has already fell open and I'm at 02:04! it was originally supposed to be apartments?! took away support columns?! 😱😱😱
@@zpridgen75 If you think the world is overpopulated then start with yourself.
@@zpridgen75 so that's an excuse for people to be killed?
Unbelievable that the management group left the building the day of the collapse because they knew something was up but they left everyone else inside. Absolutely sickening
Agreed
You know, I only took a single semester of engineering training back in college but I feel like this channel would be good for potential engineers to check out. Drives home the human cost of cutting corners and making engineering/construction mistakes.
I'm an engineer and it is a useful reminder -- but you should also notice that it is always management and owners that force the cut corners and greed through, usually against the protests of the engineers. I mean, in this one, the entire engineering firm left the project rather than go ahead.
One reason I quit the IT field was because I got tired of business people descending from above to undo all the fixes and solutions that us IT guys came up with. If you ever wonder why everyone's data is being left in comically antiquated systems that are easy targets, this is it.
On a more positive note, I'm just realizing that you're coming close to 1M subs...clearly plenty of people appreciate your telling of tragedies (myself included!)
Congrats on getting so close to a new milestone! All your videos are top-notch 💜
I concur.
Also no more air conditioning noise.
153k is still a long ways off. I'm not sure if they'll make it and wonder if they've petered out.
Interesting stories and a nice voice telling them, ofc I subbed
Yay!!! Well deserved
I'm pretty sure revenue loss doesn't quite outweigh the loss of an entire building including the lives of people in it. This man was absolutely blind to long-term consequences of his actions, makes you wonder how he got rich at all. That ain't good business, chief. At least him and any other people responsible had a proper shaming and punishment.
The audacious, blind greed! This guy sounds more like a caricature from a Dickensian novel or a Captain Planet villain. If this didn't *actually* happen in real life, no one would believe it. It strains credibility and yet...
I'm surprised you would wonder that. It's exactly this quality that can make you rich in a booming capitalist society. If structural integrity was regulated by the hand of the free market, we would se way more of this happening. Like we see in the video there's always a company willing to shoddy work for you if it makes the owners some good money.
@@Unownshipper I am assuming that the captain planet villain you're referring to is looten plunder, correct?
Unfortunately, "good business" is often putting profit before any other priority. That's capitalism for ya.
@@nisseheim4996 No, he's right. This is stupid business, and it doesn't work in a free market. The only reason why this kind of corruption can exist in Asia is because these businessmen are propped up by nepotism, quid pro quo, and other forms of government handouts.
The "invisible hand of the market" is a tongue-in-cheek metaphor to describe the democratic process of consumers voting with their wallets, but the point is that it more frequently acts in the public interest than the malicious, ignorant, or inept hand of direct government interference.
It took me WAY too long to figure out what the next “largest loss from a building collapse” was a decade later. A day to never forget and here I have briefly forgotten 😬
That one is often not considered a structural failure. Unfortunately, Sampoong was surpassed again by the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013.
My dumbass was scrolling through the comments hoping someone would mention it so I would find out. Didn't realize until this comment.
(It was 9/11, for those who also lack brain cells.)
September 11, 2001 would have been only 6 years after this incident and probably not considered an 'accidental building collapse.' Therefore probably not what was being referred to.
@@princesinha1680 It was definitely not accidental. But even if you only include collapses that were definitely accidental, the record was still unfortunately broken since this event. The Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013 would kill over twice as many people. The WTC collapse in 2001, which was an intentional terrorist attack, is to date the only one worse than that in terms of casualties. Hopefully neither of these records are broken any time soon.
I thought about Rana Plaza instantly (since that was covered in this channel as well)
There are episodes where I'm surprised by the low number of casualties for such catastrophic accidents... and there are episodes, like this one, where the number of victims is almost too high to immediately grasp. Wow. Thank you for sharing this!
This channel is the most random option you picked up at college because you need the credits and turns out it's the one class that you are looking foward to cause the teacher does such a good job he could probably makes you passionate about anything. And safety is not a bad thing to pay attention to 😆
@Sonic Hedgehog Quite plain to me.
reggiN
Read it backwards
That was a complete failure from the changes they made in the design phase, the decisions made to move things around the way they did, how they only focused on profits instead of safety, and the recovery efforts were also flawed and resulted in unnecessary deaths as well. Unfortunately, this describes a lot of countries/companies who focus on profits over everything else. This was a disaster from the beginning to the end.
You overlooked the fact that South Korean law at the time prohibited anyone but a Korean firm from working on the project. The Korean firm that was hired, was under unrealistic time constraints from the get-go. Government policy played a large part in this scenario.
It's frustrating how many people were aware of the situation of the building. The CEO bribing his executives, them bribing the authorities, them bribing the workers.. It's such a chain of greed that could've been broken so much earlier :( Excellent cover of this topic
I know you have previously collaborated with Brick Immortar, and have sometimes covered the same incidents, but you have both really shown how structural collapses and engineering failures should be presented: soberly, clearly, accessibly. Thank you. You do us all a service.
i really need more channels like FH and brick immortar, i love em both
Adding a floor and removing support columns. It's the same breathtaking foresight that thought it was a great idea to limit the number of lifeboats on the Titanic's deck so as to not clutter the promenade or obstruct the view of the ocean. Smooth...
17 days!? I’d love to hear his story. That must have been awful being trapped down there in pain, smelling death all around you. I hope he was able to overcome all that trauma.
I wonder if he ate anything. If so, what food? 17 days without food during his mental trauma seems unlikely. A person can go 3 full weeks tops without eating. He was very close, just 4 days away. Crazy story!
That survivor was actually a 19 year old female :)
@@standoughope that’s not true it’s closer to 40-60 days
I believe they talk to her in the Seconds from Disaster episode of this.
Full Metal Jackalope, this is a bit off-topic, but I wanted to tell you I really like your name.
No matter how many times I see that pink building, I will never fail to get chills imagining what those people went thru. Horrible, just a horrible and completely avoidable tragedy, shame on those who had anything to do with it
You have probably heard of the “Separation of Powers” - it refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typical division is into three branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary.
In a similar way builders, engineers, and construction inspectors should all be separate and independent of each other - to prevent this type of corruption.
Better yet is to allow whistleblower protection. This encourages engineers and construction companies to voice concerns to regulators about executive decisions that might negatively affect the safety of a project without fear of losing their job. Otherwise they’d just get replaced by another contractor who will just do the work for $$ like the ones who finished this project.
That is a VERY good idea!
@PeeCee I understand what you are saying, but how are you going to "separate" builders from engineers?
@@Matthew-Anthony Engineers design the structure. Builders build it. They should never even meet.
@@peecee1384There are many instances where they meet. If the design is discovered to be flawed while building the structure, then it needs to be redesigned.
Decided to add an extra floor and remove supporting columns? Not an engineer, but that is a huge red flag.
Not only that, but the columns on the added 5th floor, didn't line up with the columns on the lower floors.
Is it possible I’m this early for a video? You keep me sane for the 10 hour overnight shift I work. I watch your videos over and over again.
You too?
No one works on bank holiday.
@@jackwatson3944 I'm 9 1/2 hours into a 12 hour shift
@@jackwatson3944 yes they do 😂 you think every single store shuts down? I work at a busy travel stop for truckers and people traveling. My job doesn’t shut down on CHRISTMAS
likewise
I'm shocked a survivor made it 17 days in that ruble. Amazing will to live.
I've heard of this incident before, but I like your style in telling the tale.
This reminds me so very much of the Surfside condo collapse and the ongoing issue with San Francisco's Millennium Tower-- building done by the dollar rather than concern for someone else's safety. Progress should never be more important than lives.
When I saw this notification I was shocked. I have been obsessed with this channel for about a year and I thought you all covered this! But then I realized that I am way to obsessed with these style channels so I am getting them confused lol.
This tragedy out of all stuck with me due to the negligence and the fallout.
Either way, I love this channel!
@@xocreme nope! All the other channels like Brick immortar, plainly difficult and dark history did them almost a year ago but never here. If you’re like me and subscribe to them too then they all seem to cross over sometimes lol.
@@xocreme this channel is my favorite one though. I do love Brick Immortal and plainly difficult too because they add more small details but some of their videos are crazy long which can be a turn off because they drag on to too many small unnecessary details.
I was thinking re-upload too but looking at my history, i twas a video by 'Brick Immortar" :)
@@carynwaters9153 I thought so too- Plainly Difficult is probably the one I'm remembering then.
Same. I'm glad I'm not the only weirdo that finds disasters really interesting. Sad, but interesting.
One of the only few channels ive ever "hit the bell icon" for, really admire the directness and matter of fact presentation on these documentaries of terrible incidents.
Excellent work on this video, I'd love to see you cover more incidents outside of EU/US!!
When your video is well done and gets to the point, there's no need to say "Hit like" or hit anything.
This was a story that I actually knew about already. I found out about it last year after people online were comparing it to the Champlain Towers collapse in Surfside, Florida. I've learned about a ton of disasters via spending too much time online, but this was one that stuck with me. Amazing content as always.
There was a lot of things that contributed to this event. The 5th floor that was added even though the structure could not support it. The restaurants added to the top floor and heating added in the floors increased the pressure. The columns were smaller than originally designed. The air conditioning units dragged across the roof 2 years before the collapse. The greed of the owner not wanting to shut down the store the day of the collapse even though the structural engineer told him it needed to be shut down. This was a truly sad story :(
Great content as usual. Positive side note for me is that in Korea, these criminally negligent owners actually have to go to prison. Highly doubt that would happen in Europe or America.
After Kaprun here in Austria, the result was that no-one was at fault -.-
Yeah in the US it would just be a fine. Probably about 1 days worth of revenue so it doesn't really penalize anyone.
@@0FreakShow0 I wouldn’t say it’s “fine” as something like the Hyatt Regency collapsed actually changed engineering laws in the US tremendously and for the better. There will always be people who get away with horrible things unfortunately
@@JJ-kd5mx A fine, as in a laughably small amount of money paid by the corporation.
@@werelemur1138 I know what you meant. I just worded my reply wrong, cuz people have gotten away with things like this, however, these fines have actually completely drained a lot of people who have done things like this, as you aren’t factoring in what these families get when they sue the people involved in their respective situations. It’s a shame it doesn’t happen to all, no matter location
partially the reason was that many wives of major businessmen and high ranking people were in the mall during the collapse
I remember seeing this (I believe) on Seconds from Disaster years ago. Seeing everything that lead up to the disaster was sad and awful with how it could have been prevented. Nice seeing your video on it as well!! As dark as it is, I do enjoy videos like these.
I saw that one too. That was a good program. Much like this channel, it focused on the event in an interesting way. I like how they noted that disasters don't come about because of one singular thing, but rather a cascade of choices and effects. And while it had reenactments, I didn't get the feeling it sensationalized the tragedy (that's another thing in common with this narrator).
@@Unownshipper Very true! The show didn't disrespect the tragedy but kept it... for lack of a better word...interesting enough to keep my attention with each fact (I was a kid when I first saw the show, and my attention span was practically nonexistent). FH does this very well! Always keeping the viewers' attention while keeping it respectful and not...over-the-top I suppose
I swear I get more quality entertainment from You Tube than I cable or even Netflix. Thanks FH for all your hard work. It's truly appreciated and Id be lost without ya at this point lol.
Yes! I don't watch cable or Netflix. These UA-cam documentaries on real events provide me all the "entertainment" I need! And this is a fairly new channel, but his narration is just so appropriate for the topics he covers that I have watched almost every one.
@@vernicethompson4825 I 100% agree
That image at 5:12 was really shocking. So awful and so preventable. Just horribly tragic.
[and the image at 9:50!!]
This has to be one of the best short form documentary channels on YT. Excellent work as always, with no faff, no fanfare and no BS. Excellent.
So the owner was told that it was certainly going to collapse and agreed yet was hoping that this disaster would occur after the customers and employees left for the day so he could acquire the profits? Greed on this level is sickening. I'm halfway through this upload and afraid that somehow he'll get off of the charges. I doubt that he died in jail. I hope that I'm wrong.
[edit] I was wrong, thankfully.
What I love about this channel is that you use the metric system so I actually know what those stats mean
They say good reforms come from terrible tragedies; this is an example of it. Building regulations were changed for the better in Seoul, but at the cost of over 500 lives. A cost which was preventable in the first place if the CEOs of Sampoong weren’t ignorant or negligent
Almost all safety regulations are written in blood
This is the tombstone mentality in a nutshell. Safety lapses are pushed aside until they result in catastrophes with sufficient body counts.
That was a bad one, must be one of the top 10 building disasters this channel great coverage!
This one had the highest death toll for a building collapse until the World Trade Center on September 11
That part about them using the trigger for the cell phones so they could locate people is a really fascinating note. I didn’t know what was possible to do and is very smart to find people.
This is such a microcosm of the problems inherent to a society that prioritises the immediate acquisition of wealth above all else. A mindset that values making as much money as possible in as little time as possible cannot comprehend the idea of long term planning and sustainability: sure, your building has huge cracks in the ceiling and could end up collapsing and killing a load of people, but if you evacuate everyone, you'll lose out on the money they'll be spending NOW. It's all about the present with no consideration of what will come later and even now, nearly 30 years later, it's just as much of a problem. Corporations still behave this way and it still hurts people.
I was wondering when you might cover this; it seems like perfect candidate for this channel. I still can’t believe the amount of negligence shown by the people in power in this event, especially when refusing to evacuate with literal yawning cracks in the ceiling. And when they did evacuate, it was only the people in charge who were at that meeting. That means that they recognized a danger strong enough to warrant escaping themselves, but apparently not strong enough to warrant evacuating their shoppers. The ONLY explanation for that, as far as I can tell, is that they valued revenue over human lives. Except their own lives, of course. 🙄 Anyway. Wonderful video, as always. Your channel is my favorite place to start when researching these disasters.
So I had seen a lot of comments on Plainly Difficults video about the weight of the HVAC units and whatnot. Well, I did the math for a comment on that video and I went back to find it so here it is for anyone curious. This is copied and pasted from my comment 7 months ago.
The plans show that the floors were about 800,000 sq ft (74,322 m2). The exact measurements according to the plans are 795,205 sq ft or 73,877 m2. Multiply that by the 5 floors and you get 3,976,027 square feet (369,385 square meters). I found a site that puts the estimated height of the building at about 65 feet. Using that, we get a volume of 25,845,755 cubic feet, or 731,870 cubic meters. So the 3 units had to cool roughly 25.8 million cubic feet. That’s a lot of work for 3 3 ton units. The numbers suggest that 3 15 ton units would be more in line with what was used. Not to mention I doubt the mass of 9 tons would be enough to cause this catastrophic of a failure. 45 tons of weight can easily do this kind of damage. Sadly I can’t find much in the way of anything that tells me exactly what model of units were used or even anything that could give me a clue but I tried. If an actual HVAC tech could figure out based on the numbers I’ve provided if I’m accurate that would be great.
Are you mixing cooling tonnage with mass tonnage? A 45 ton chiller doesn’t weigh 45 tons. It will be much less. Each tonnage rating does the equivalent cooling to melting a ton of ice in 24hrs.
@@tgschaef It’s possible that I did at the time which is why I opened the door for an HVAC tech to correct me. Regardless, the weight of machines that would be needed to move that volume of air would still be quite large.
Imagine being trapped underneath rubble, subsisting off nothing but rainwater, injured and in pain, for seventeen days. Holy shit that poor kid.
I cannot imagine 17 DAYS trapped underneath a collapsed building. What a crazy will to live. Rest in Peace to the innocent people who died
another amazing, honest, and difficult to hear short documentary. best channel, best narration, bar none. more subs for Fascinating Horror, PLEASE!!!
This reminds me so much of the collapse of the condominium in Miami Florida.
Same here. Could not help but think of that tragedy.
Man, The chairman needed to be strung up and the mayor needed to be ousted for his call
Full credit to the original construction company who refused to make unsafe alternations, even when it meant they lost the contract. They didn’t save any lives, sadly, but they’re still heroes for maintaining integrity when it was difficult to do so.
Like clockwork. Thank you for all your well researched videos. Outstanding and respectful, as usual.
Board: 'Collapse is _inevitable!'_
Chairman: 'Let's wring the last few coppers out of 'em before it does!'
No matter how many different versions of this tragedy I've watched (and there have been quite a few on UA-cam), I can't get over the heartbreak for the hundreds of innocent people that lost their lives, nor the utter rage and burning contempt I feel for those who let such gross negligence run rampant until the inevitable happened.
Thanks for your own sensitive re-telling, Fascinating Horror.
I've read about this before, and is actually thinking of when FH will be making a video about it!
Upon reading of this, all I can think of is, basically, greed at one of its worst displays...
The change in the building's function from an apartment complex to a department store, the addition of an extra floor and the reduction of support columns, the quick and cheap construction methods, the similarly cheap method of moving the air conditioning units, and even the response when the cracks started to appear and when they refused to approve an evacuation, all had one thing in common; they want they want to save/earn as much money as they can...
The old saying is "penny wise and pound foolish."
@@vernicethompson4825 To say nothing of the other saying: "Every safety rule is written in blood." The negligence and greed is absolutely staggering. They refuse to evacuate the store, fearing lost revenues, yet the managers et al hightail it out like the cowardly rats they were, leaving the rest to fend for themselves when the inevitable happened.
love your videos man. you came in super clutch last semester for me when I had to research engineering disasters for a big presentation. just great stuff all around.
I've seen some coverage on this incident but let me appreciate you for bringing up the story without sensationalizing and dramatizing it.
Also I love the way you tell the story in systemic and prospective manner. Kudos!
A brilliant documentary as usual. I think these videos are so well put together. I particularly like the presenter’s voice, which is very clear and calming. I also agree with others that the respect with which the dead and injured are treated is highly commendable.
This is one of those disasters I heard about as a kid, watching those old "Seconds from Disaster"-docus, that stuck with me for a long time. It's basically a perfect storm of greed, corruption, and the mindset that money outweighs lives. But honestly, the most chilling part were the follow-up inspections, which revealed just how deep the corruption went, and that only one in fifty buildings was considered safe by the appropriate standards. Those are the sort of statistics which speak loud to an impressionable young mind...
But unlike many other disasters of this kind, the guilty parties were held accountable to some degree. Bhopal had hardly any fallout for the negligent management, despite thousands of deaths. The Windscale catastrophe, although thankfully severely hampered by "Cockroth's Folly," hardly saw any attnetion at all for decades despite being nicknamed "Britain's Chernobyl." Sampoong, on the other hand, publically shamed and punished the guilty parties for their role in the disaster; a move which I feel would prevent many similar disasters from taking place. Because if there's one thing these rich groups and individuals care about more than wealth, it's their image. It's truly the only thing that can stop all of these narcissistic swines that plague our society from stepping out of line, pardon my French.
Yet another case of profit over people 🤬 greed is an ugly characteristic, responsible for the loss of many innocent lives. It's beyond sickening 🤬 well presented analysis of this heartbreaking story ✌
Ironically, it aslso happened just as badly in countries like China and Russia
Thank you for covering an incident happened in my country :)
Love from korea
Thanks for covering this topic! I’ve been waiting with unbridled anticipation for this one, since it was such a preventable tragedy. We need to learn from our mistakes
I’ve watched quite a few of these disaster videos now and this is the first one that actually held someone accountable and punished them
I think the weirdest part is how afterwards the site was actually turned into an apartment complex as it had originally planned to be. I don't know about you, but I don't think I could live on a site where so many people had died beneath it.
Speaking of collapses, you should cover the collapse of the Cyprus Structure freeway in Oakland, California, during the otherwise relatively mild Loma Prieta Earthquake. Large loss of life, totally changed the "freeways everywhere" nature of the Bay Area.
ive seen a few videos on this disaster, but im glad youve done one too. I like how you give background and such and deliver you videos.
I love the research you put into your videos . It’s very clear when other creators just use preexisting documentaries for their content.
Things like this happen more often than we realize. Very tragic and heartbreaking.
Was just about to call it a night but here I am! Obsessed! Love historic catastrophic facts! Intriguing!
shush
Heh, I was really about to go to bed and then saw this video was posted.
@@LeadsTheFallen girl bye who hurt you 🤣
Long overdue that you covered this event, but I'm glad you did! It always had interested me, so it's nice to see one of my favorite UA-camrs finally cover it.
Thank you for yet another respectfully-handled glimpse into unimaginable horror. Your delivery is so much more respectful than other UA-camrs (the sensationalizing "Ain't it awful!?!" crowd) and your consistent relaying of post-disaster remediation measures/actions/legislation is much appreciated.
I'm still working my way through your channel, so don't know if you've covered it, but would suggest a segment on the New London (Texas) School explosion of March 18, 1937. My husband's mother lost two siblings to this disaster and I know you would handle it thoroughly and sensitively. Cheers from North Texas!
I watched a documentary about this last year about a survivor and the details are so horrifying. People should still be getting paid to this day for what they went through.
Now I want to see some people arrested for the Champlain Tower collapse.
"This isn't safe."
"Ok you're fired,then."
There must have been books upon books written about this disaster and you manage to put it all into such a concise format. You really are an incredible storyteller.
I've heard this story many times, but first I'd heard of the cell locators! Good job!
kinda funny how, i once watched a 1-hour or so documentary about this event,
and this 10-minute mini-documentary covered pretty much everything the much longer documentary did too, but without the added drama and reenactment.
Just goes to show that on more than one occasion, people have been found alive in rubble that the "authorities" claim is impossible. When a disaster of such magnitude happens, NEVER stop searching! Thank you for this upload. I don't remember this tragedy. 😊
Well you need to get the bodies out regardless so yeah.
I'm addicted to all these stories. Well researched, excellent visuals, great cadence.. what's not to love?
I've seen everything there is about this disaster, but when FH covers a topic, he always finds new details on the stories. Love the content
You should cover the Versailles Wedding Hall disaster or the 1993 World Trade Center incident.
He did the Versailles one. Horror Stories's footage is on point.
Standards in Korea are still incredibly lax, thanks mostly to corruption. Building collapses and deaths by building fires are still far too common. Watching the office building across the street from my apartment in Nokbeon-dong (neighborhood in Seoul) being built over the last couple of years has been scary. So many workers just hanging off of scaffolding unharnessed and other similar safety issues.
You know its not perfect and absolutely has corruption I will never deny it, But hearing stuff like that is why cities like NYC have so many regulations on buildings and construction sites.
Yes, that's why things like this never happen in developed countries like USA. NOT !
Surfside condominium collapse
June 23, 2021 at 10:25 PM PDT
@@davidjacobs8558 yeah but it largely doesn't. Our high safety standards are not pointless.
That's surprising. I thought Korea implemented some of the strictest safety standards on the planet after the Sampoong collapse.
This is literally the premise of so many disaster movies-people dying because some businessman didn’t want to lose money. Art truly mimics life.
I've watched SEVERAL mini-docs on this specific incident, and I have to say this one was really the most in-depth , especially regarding the actual construction of the building itself
2:15am here in Washington State.
Sending love to whoever reads this. ❤
♥️
7.03 pm here in 🇰🇷 ♡
If I was in that meeting, I would’ve pulled the fire alarm. Most people wouldn’t ignore that and would leave. The authorities would then find out about the building’s stability if it hadn’t collapsed yet. The most you’d get for causing a false fire alarm would be a fine I’m pretty sure.
Well done . Perfectly delivered facts representing the corner cutting defects of that era .
Once again you have taken a subject that I have seen a number of channels cover and added new information that none of them mentioned. Your research is fantastic.
Human negligence of course just how many of these tragedies could have been averted if wasn't for such gross incompetence.